P4G Success Story: Energise Africa Raises USD 11.5 Million in Investments to Provide Electricity to 350,000 People Across Africa

OXFORD—17 July 2019— More than 600 million people living in rural and poor African communities lack access to electricity – a statistic that underscores the need for global and regional investment and action. Energise Africa, a 2018 P4G start-up partnership, is steadily working to decrease that number by offering innovative financing and investing models to supply renewable energy to diverse communities across Uganda, Mali, Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Tanzania, Senegal, Rwanda, Cameroon and Burkina Faso.

A joint venture of Ethex and Lendahand, two of Europe’s leading online impact investing platforms, the Energise Africa partnership allows individuals to invest directly in pioneering solar businesses who can then provide solar home systems on a pay-as-you-go basis to low income families across various African countries, whilst targeting returns of around 6%, although investors should bear in mind that with this type of investment, capital is at risk. With investments starting at £50, Energise Africa offers individual investors an affordable and easily accessible way to support increasing renewable energy access in a part of the world where electricity is most needed.

“We were extremely pleased to work with P4G over the course of the last year to bring Energise Africa from its initial stages into a project with traction, strength and significant potential to scale. Our partnership with P4G was a critical step in helping us reach the right people in the right places – and furthering our delivery potential – to push Energise even further ahead in the world of impact investing and empowering citizens to use their money to take action to support the SDGs and tackle climate change,” said Rachel Mountain, Head of Marketing and Communications for the project.

In 2018, P4G, the Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals initiative, awarded Energise Africa with USD 100,000 in start-up funding for one year. Following the close of their contract with P4G, Energise Africa grew its community of supporters by more than 50%, from just over 1,110 participants at the start of the contract period to more than 1,800 today. Actual investors also grew by almost 300 individuals to almost 1,100 over the courses of the funding period. This growth of involved ‘every-day people’ enabled the partnership to raise USD 11.5 million in cumulative investments via the Energise Africa platform. These investments helped 358,000 people in 10 countries gain access to solar energy, (which mitigated an estimated 78,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually if the electricity had been provided by coal generation) and returned USD 3.5 million to investors. P4G funding also supported Energise Africa’s expanding digital marketing and global branding efforts.

“P4G commends Energise Africa’s success as a start-up partnership,” said P4G Head of Partnerships Robyn McGuckin. “This partnership leveraged a relatively small financial award to achieve big results in a short time frame. Energise Africa is a model of how impact investing from individuals in wealthier countries can transform communities and people’s lives in some of the world’s poorest countries.”

Looking forward, Energise Africa will continue working to innovate to further reduce the risk of investing in sustainable businesses operating in Africa. In approaching this task, they have pioneered their first investor guarantee in the United Kingdom, “protecting the capital invested by first time investors up to £100” to encourage people to get started on impact investing with subsidized risk. Terms and conditions apply. Capital over £100 is at risk.

About P4G

P4G – Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 – has funded 18 public-private partnerships with projects in developing countries. These include projects to accelerate the adoption of electric buses in Latin America, expand the supply of renewable energy in Sub-Sahara Africa, reduce food loss and waste in Indonesia and reduce plastic and packaging waste from e-commerce in China. P4G is a collaborative partnership among nine partner countries: Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mexico, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea and Vietnam. In addition, C40, World Economic Forum, Global Green Growth Institute, IFC and World Resources Institute, which hosts P4G’s global hub, are partner organizations to P4G.